York Art Gallery Bursary with Internship

York Art Gallery is part of York Museums Trust, a registered charity which also manages The Yorkshire Museum and York Castle Museum. As such, the gallery works alongside colleagues in learning, volunteering, marketing, enterprise and digital media. York Art Gallery is a major regional art gallery which works in partnership with a range of local, regional and national partners including the Art Fund, Tate and the National Gallery.

The collections

York Art Gallery’s collections are an outstandingly rich resource with over 1000 oil paintings, 15,000 works on paper, 100 sculptures, 5500 studio ceramics and archival material. Consequently, there are still lots of new discoveries to be made, in a supportive and inspiring environment. York Art Gallery reopened in summer 2015 after a major £8,000,000 development project with 60 per cent more display space in which to present major exhibitions, new gardens, exciting learning programmes and also the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA). The Gallery has won numerous awards including Family-Friendly Museum of the Year Award 2016, was shortlisted for the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year Award 2016, and most recently won a special commendation at the European Museum of the Year Awards.

About Friends of York Art Gallery

The gallery has a highly supportive and active Friends group which has funded this MA scholarship and which is keen to learn more about York Art Gallery’s collections. Watch a video about the group.

York Art Gallery MA Scholar Placement, Abigail Jubb

What did you work on?

My research project was on the Tillotson Hyde Collection of Drawings and Illustrations, a collection of some 1500 works on paper produced between the early nineteenth and mid-twentieth century by over 500 artists and amateurs. Diverse in content and quality, the collection includes artists’ drawings, preparatory sketches and “commercial” artwork. In particular, my research focused on the collection’s social cartoons and caricatures. The outcomes of my project include provenance and object led research, the proposal and preparation of an exhibition on the project, gallery talks and events for the Friends of York Art Gallery programme and the publication of a report on the Friends of York Art Gallery website.

You can find out more about my research project by reading my report, The Tillotson Hyde Collection of Drawings and Illustrations: Research project Report.

What experiences would you say have been most useful or unexpected?

Besides conducting provenance and object-based research on the collection, I proposed and prepared an exhibition of its artworks. This involved curatorial tasks such as creating objects lists, making loan requests, preparing an exhibition proposal and interpretation plan, and researching and drafting interpretation labels. My exhibition proposal proposed the exhibition of costume and textiles objects alongside the works on paper from the Tillotson Hyde collection, which expanded my experience of working with collections. This experience was particularly useful as it gave me an understanding of what goes into curating an exhibition, which will certainly help me to pursue my professional interest in curating, and has encouraged my interest in working with institutions with interdisciplinary collections.

My experiences at York Art Gallery also, unexpectedly, extended outside my research project! I assisted on the installation of the ‘Paul Nash and the Uncanny Landscape’ exhibition, designed and delivered public engagement events for the Friends of York Art Gallery’s program, assisted with the learning team’s Sketchbook Circle and contributed research to the visitor experience team’s Instagram project, Sartorial Saturdays, which informed a gallery talk I gave on dress details in the Gallery’s permanent collection of portraits. These experiences have expanded my insight into and interest in the diverse heritage sector.

Who do you work with, and how does the institution make use of you?

In short, the Friends of York Art Gallery made use of my art historical knowledge and research skills to further knowledge of York Art Gallery’s collections, providing me with a platform through which to share this at public-facing events.

Primarily, I worked with the Curator of Art, Jennifer Alexander, and Curatorial Assistant, Fiona Green; we had regular supervision meetings to discuss my research project and proposed outcomes, where I learned from their knowledge and expertise. I also met with the Friends of York Art Gallery Committee to discuss my research and the design and delivery of three gallery and two seminar sessions, which were part of their programme of events. These outreach events engaged members of the Friends, and the public, in my research project, and enabled me to use their feedback to plan my research project and its public-facing outcomes.

Besides York Art Gallery’s curatorial team and the Friends of York Art Gallery, I also worked with the Gallery’s visitor experience and learning teams, and the Assistant Curator of costume and textiles when contributing to projects.

What do you value most about your experience with the institution?

Through my experience at York Art Gallery, I feel that I have gained skills in collections research, management, care and interpretation, which have equipped me for a future career in curating. Since completing my research project I have been offered a paid collections internship with Ripon Museums and a paid internship with the Hull Yorkshire’s Maritime City project; prospective employers continue to be interested in my experience at York Art Gallery and the transferable skills and knowledge I gained there.

How has your work with York Art Gallery enhanced your studies at York?

While I approached this partnership as separate from my studies, due to my differing research interests (I specialised in fashion), my experiences at York Art Gallery still enhanced my studies in unexpected ways. In particular, working on the research project developed my provenance and object-led research skills, which were instructive to my Master’s dissertation project. I also found that the public engagement events I delivered at York Art Gallery encouraged my confidence when public speaking, which helped me when presenting academic work.

Do you feel it has been helpful with career planning or improved your job prospects, and if yes, how?

The projects I worked on at York Art Gallery have given me an insight into the diversity of the museums and galleries sector, which has helped me consider what a career in this sector could involve. Personally, this research-focused partnership has furthered my interest in academic research and curating. I am now pursuing further academic study and curatorial roles, and I feel that, to date, the highly transferable skills and knowledge I gained at York Art Gallery have been hugely helpful in my pursuits!

Would you recommend it to future students?

I would recommend this partnership to future students who are interested in provenance and object-led research, public engagement and working with collections. It is an instructive opportunity to gain practical experience working with collections and to gain knowledge and skills in collections research, management and care, all of which will be invaluable to students’ future employability in the museums and galleries sector.

Read about the experiences of previous recipients of the Friends of York Art Gallery Research Scholarship:

• Samantha Timm
• Jye O'Sullivan
• Simon Spier
• Kirsty Donald